Discussions By Condition: I cannot get a diagnosis.

strange undiagnosed symptoms

I have been having strange undiagnosed symptom for awhile. Recently they got worse. Most often I have problems with the left side of my body. It started a few years back after having had a bad chiropractic appt. The doctors put me on hydrocodone and my heart rate shot up very high, after that there was a cold sensation on the left side of my head above my eye. That later was seen as too much fluid in my head but not enough to do anything about they said. I suffered neurological symptoms only on the left side of my body for several years that affected my heart, caused numbness only on the left side, I had small black outs.I had a lot of burning sensations in my neck and back. Within the first few months I put on 20 pounds of water weight gain. I started taking Sudafed and a water pill and my symptoms eased. As time went on the symptoms in my head moved to other places in my body, including my stomach, particularly the burning sensations. Now I do not have as many symptoms in my head and neck but the same kind of symptoms are in my stomach and my legs.

Most recently I have felt leg pain that started in my left calf and moved up to my hip joint. They diagnosed it as muscle sprain, shortly after that I had some weird sensations in my head and chest that felt like something moving through a vein that was too big for it. It woke me up and made me catch my breath. It didn't hurt it just felt weird. I felt sick afterward and kind of dizzy. I have felt that in other places too, like my left arm and my right leg. At the moment both legs feel the same. They feel swollen but aren't, both hurt, the left one most of the time and it goes all the way up to the hip joint.

The doctors don't know what it is and it just seems to get worse. I am wondering if anyone else has had this kind of thing happen before and what it might be. Although I currently have an issue with two of my teeth I don't think that is the cause of all of this. I am taking antibiotics for a tooth and it will be pulled soon. I am tired of going to the doctors only to have them tell me they don't know what it is and to get rid of my anxiety. I have had MRI's a CAT scan and blood work. Any ideas?

8 Replies:

were you checked for a blood clot? what about seeing a cardiologist???The primary care doctor and the ER both kind of felt my leg and I had no swelling, redness or heat to it. The primary care doctor checked my carotid artery with a stethascope and did all the routine things that one would do but not a doppler. The ER doctor just did routine CBC, potassium, and electrolyte blood word but it all came back normal. It has become worse when it seems there is excess fluid stuff going with my head. It is weird. It seems like I have been checked out cardiology wise several times but not since this leg thing happened. Primary care seemed satisfied with doing little. However, seeing a vascular doctor has crossed my mind more than once. Thanks.

Do you have any reason to think you are in a hypercoagulable state? Do you have a history of peripheral vascular disease? You are clearly concerned about having a clot, and have been for some time. You also seem to have some concern about stroke. These are common sources of worry for many people, and I was interested in learning about any risk factors that you have for either. If a clot were traveling through your vessels, you would not feel it moving, so you can be reassured at that level. (re: The feeling in your chest) The vascular conditions of the intimal lining that would be painful can be discussed with your physician (dissection). It is interesting that you correlate your “extra water on the brain” with your symptoms. Hydrocephalus is not usually associated with the constellation of symptoms you are describing. If you have radiographic evidence of enlarged ventricles, which is different from hydrocephalus and drawing a clinical correlation is necessary. Doctors aren’t out to get you, and when they examine you, they have an incentive to practice defensive medicine (particularly in a case like yours, with high stakes symptoms). You should definitely make your appointments through your primary care doctor (not the ER), and describe your concerns specifically. If your insurance allows you to visit a neurologist directly, then you can consider an evaluation. From your original post and the previous posts that you have made on these boards, you seem to have a good deal of medical knowledge, but a great deal of concern about many different symptoms. You owe it to yourself to establish a plan for answering your questions once and for all.

There is a risk factor for the possibility of a stroke and that is the chiropracter treatment.A recent article In pratice medicine concerned the dangers of blood clots and strokes from neck manipulations.

Sure-the dangers posed by chiropractic adjustments (stroke, dissection) are well recognized.However, the time frame between adjustment and current symptoms is multiple years, making it highly unlikely to have contributed to newly evolving deficits.

OK, fewd4thought, please list reliable sources for the opinion you just expressed about cervical adjusting by Doctors of Chiropractic. I am being a bit forward here as these opinions have been circulating for a while. A retrospective study showed that more people have strokes from being placed in the hyperextended position at beauty salons than getting adjusted. I went to school with that researcher. And if we really explore, how about this: an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported that an estimated 106,000 hospitalized patients die each year from drugs which, by medical standards, are properly prescribed and properly administered. More than two million suffer serious side effects. (Reference 3. Lazarou J, Pomeranz BH, Corey PN: "Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients." JAMA 1998;279:1200.) Again, I will be blunt - why are chiropractors considered so dangerous when what is referenced above occurs IN hospitals ? And if I recall correctly, some say that about 85,000 of the above referenced deaths are preventable. So please do not post about the dangers of chiropractic adjustment when conventional medicine is so much life threatening. And so well hidden from the general public.